A friend texted me yesterday to ask about where I got the info for the ‘Risk is Relative’ article I published earlier as he wanted to use it as a source for his talk.
Ooops! I had wanted to quote the source earlier but never got around to it. Sorry folks. I know it’s important to be credible especially when lots of people are reading what you write on the net!
So here it is: Risk of Contracting HIV after Unprotected Exposure
I came home yesterday, for good. No more making weekly trips to and fro between KL and Seremban. I have moved most of my stuff home (I know owning a SUV would come in handy!) It will take a while for me to adjust back to being full time hubby and daddy.
It’s good to be home. The wife needs a hubby, the kids need a daddy full time. Not sure what I am going to do next. Will be reporting for work on the 5th Dec, 2006 after I come back from Mumbai. The plan of attack is to convince my sponsor to allow me to continue subspeciality training in UMMC for at least another year.
We (wife and I) will be flying off to Mumbai this evening. Not really looking forward to it. I am a little travel-weary. Basically I just feel like resting, for now.
I have a few papers to write up after I come back! Aargh!!!
Thurs, good to be home feeling in my heart. Thurs, 301106 @ 0916
Since Bernard asked about it, I shall share with you the results of my thesis. Read on and be afraid, be very afraid!
The title of my thesis was: The prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED) in men with ischemic heart disease (or the PENIS study; read the title carefully, all the letters are there!) ;-P
The study population: 510 men surveyed in the cardiac clinic using a self-administered questionnaire on their sexual performance in the preceeding 6 months.
The results:
1. ED afflicts 9 out of 10 men with ischemic heart disease (IHD).
2. For every year that a man with IHD ages, he has an 8% risk of developing ED.
3. There is no difference between a Malay, Chinese or Indian man in terms of ED risk (in a study done in Singapore, Indian men seem to be at higher risk!)
4. Men with IHD and diabetes have 3 times the risk of ED compared to men with IHD without DM.
5. Men with IHD and hypertension has 2 times the risk of ED compared to men with IHD without hypertension.
6. Smoking and alcohol consumption seem to have no influence on the risk fo developing ED.
7. Men with IHD who consumes diuretics have 4 times the risk of ED compared to those who don’t.
8. Surprisingly, beta blockers were not associated with ED.
9. 80% of these men were NOT on nitrates, which makes it an incredible and potentially profitable group to target for drugs for the treatment of ED!
I believe this is the first such study done in Malaysia and the results are very interesting indeed. I shall be co-presenting the findings this Saturday at the 2nd Ageing, Gender, Andrology and Sexual (Sciences) Society of India (AGASSI) meeting.
Tues, 281106 @ 1421
I believe the giant pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, was the first to start. in Malaysia many years ago, what has now become an annual affair, ie. The CV (cardiovascular) forum for MOs. I had the priviledge of attending their first forum a few years ago. It was held in the exotic island of Redang. The strategy was simple and brilliant, “get them on our side while they are still MOs because MOs are the future specialists and consultants!”
Soon, many other pharmaceutical companies have followed suit and jumped on the happy bandwagon of organising forums for MOs. I am happy to say that the initial ‘hard sell’ tactics used in those forums have now largely been replaced by ‘free intellectual discourse and updates’. I guess the pharma companies have realised that hard selling doesn’t work. What is better is to allow doctors to gather, and freely discuss the latest guidelines, and weigh for themselves the pros and cons of any drugs (including those marketed by the forum organiser).
I have always enjoyed these meetings, not only for the updates and stimulating discourse, but also because it afforded a chance to meet up with old friends and colleagues in the same profession and catch up on one another. We doctors have very little social life.
I attended such a meeting last week over the weekend. It was held in a hotel in KL itself and since I was offered a night’s stay, I decided to bring my family along.
I think it’s their first attempt at organising such a forum. The title was “Updates for Primary Care – Diabetes and Hypertension”. You may ask what’s an ID physician doing in such an update and why a ‘primary care’ one some more? Well, you never know what you may learn in such a forum! Especially in the management of Diabetes. I firmly believe that the theme song for endocrinologists is the ‘Limbo Rock’! You know, how low can you go… they seem to be obsessed with how low the fasting sugar should be, how low the cholesterol should be, how low the HbA1C should be, blah blah blah….
The meeting was badly organised, to put it mildly. It was plagued by delays, delays and more delays! The talks did not start on schedule, the speakers could not keep time (one speaker spoke for 1 and half hours when his alloted time was 30 min!), the attendance was absymal (less than 15 were invited, and yes, I did not meet any old pals), and the meals did not start on time. On the final day, the talk went on way past 2 pm when the check out time was stipulated at 1 pm (I left without taking lunch)!
I firmly believe the era of being ‘fashionably late‘ should be done away with. I am terribly peeved if there is NO SENSE OF PUNCTUALITY. They have basically robbed me of my time.
The hotel room was small, the weather was awful resulting in my kids being restless in the room and bickering away, driving their mummy to the brink of insanity. The shower drain was blocked, and so was the bath tub drain, broad band internet cost RM1.90 per minute! (gulp!). Two local phone calls less than 30 secs cost RM 5.40! It’s daylight robbery. On the home front, understandably, the mood was foul!
The programme was so packed that there was no time for leisure. And what really got to me was the constant reminder by sms and phone calls from the pharma reps to remind me the next talk is about to start! I received 1 sms and 3 calls just for one talk! That’s bordering on harrasment!
To their credit, I found one of the speaker very engaging and I learnt a new thing or two from her.
All in all, it was a bad weekend, made memorable for all the wrong reasons.
Memo to self:
1. Don’t accept any more invites that have packed schedules no matter how nice is the venue
2. Don’t accept any more invites for any forum stretching over 2 days and 1 night. I prefer those with 3 days 2 nights, not so hectic.
2. Leave the kids the next time?
Mon, 271106 @ 2116
One for the weekend. And Bernard, don’t be offended ya. I happen to think you are one brilliant guy!
I sumitted 4 copies of my thesis to the department yesterday afternoon, officially bringing my MMed course to an appropriate closure. What a big relief.
The next one week will be terribly busy. I have to prepare for the presentations based on the thesis at the end of the month in Mumbai; and the department has just informed us today that we have to write out the full paper in one week for them to publish it in one of the local journal here. And I thought I could rest a little!
I have started moving my stuff back to Seremban; am almost 80% done. Feels kinda sad to leave KL even though I do hate the place sometimes (most of the time really). There are a lot of challenges ahead, chiefly I have to convince my bosses in Seremban to allow me to continue subspeciality training in UH. Need lots of prayer.
Fri, 241106 @ 2233
I’ve watched the movie, twice. The first was with a pharma rep and the next day, I took my family to watch the show. Just in case I am labelled as a corrupt doctor, let it be known that we went ‘dutch’ when I went out with the pharma rep; he bought the tickets, pop corn and drinks and I took care of dinner.
This is my take on the movie:
Two thumbs up for:
1. A really buffed up Bond, (IMHO, the best bodied Bond since Sean Connery).
2. Bond’s intense blue eyes (are they for real?)
3. Totally awesome chase sequence and stunts (reminds me of Ong Bak)
4. Really cool car and hand phones!
5. Bodilicious Bond babes!
6. Judith Dench as ‘M’ who this time has more than a paragraph of lines.
7. A very metrosexually dressed Bond, tight clothes that leave hardly any breathing space! That’s keeping up with the times.
Four thumbs down for (read no further if you haven’t seen the show):
1. Bond walking funny. Maybe it’s all that beef. Too much sashaying of the bubble butt (as movie partner commented; hmmm, that’s a novel way of describing a butt!). Did I mention Bond is a tad short?
2. What?!!!! No naked women’s sillouette in the opening sequence? That’s unacceptable! Ian Fleming just turned in his grave.
3. Malaysian censorship board that went happily snipping away, making the story line rather jagged. I went like ‘huh? what happened?’ (I swear they were on the floor a second ago, and the next Bond is in a cab)
4. What’s with the villian’s girlfriend and leather? She has BAD fashion sense. It’s a wonder she didn’t catch pneumonia!
5. The villian didn’t use his inhaler properly.
6. Bond’s CPR skills suck! No wonder the girl died (oops! did I give away too much?!)
7. A defibrillator in the car? Aiyo, so ‘kwa cheong’! And some more can go and give himself (or tried to anyway) a DC shock!
8. And no gadgets at all? (Defibrillators don’t count).
9. I think Bond’s gun’s silencer is too long!
10. Very corny line regarding a ‘little finger’.
11. Zero chemistry between Bond and the girl (but the Malaysian Censorship Board may be the culprit here)
12. Shameless advertising by Sony (phone la, VAIO notebook la, shame, shame, shame. But then again, it could be because I am intensely jealous!)
13. 144 minutes is way too long, very torturous for the urinary bladder and a kid who whines for his pillow (which we forgot to bring along!)
My final verdict: 8/10! Not bad la. I kinda enjoyed it. It’s been a long time since I last saw a good Bond film (Pierce Brosnan was a wimp). Besides, I can’t possibly ‘kutuk’ a character from which I got my name right?
Thurs, 231106 @ 1412 (Dying to hit the gym and get a bubble butt!)
I’ve been walking around with this mark on my neck the last 2 days. Thankfully, no one has (dared) asked me what it was! Sure looks like a hicky doesn’t it? But the question is, how do you get a ‘hicky’ without a ‘hicker’??? Any answers?
Wed, 221106 @ 1032
String some beautiful words together, frame it against beautiful music and express it with a voice that can jump an octave effortlessly in the blink of an eye and we have ‘The Riddle’, the latest hit single by Five For Fighting (yeah, he is the guy who sang the superman song). Here are the lyrics to the song, found in his latest album ‘Two Lights’
The Riddle
There was a man back in ’95
Whose heart ran out of summers
But before he died, I asked him
Wait, what’s the sense in life
Come over me, Come over me
He said,
Son why you got to sing that tune
Catch a Dylan song or some eclipse of the moon
Let an angel swing and make you swoon
Then you will see… You will see
Then he said,
Here’s a riddle for you
Find the Answer
There’s a reason for the world
You and I…
Picked up my kid from school today
Did you learn anything cause in the world today
You can’t live in a castle far away
Now talk to me, come talk to me
He said,
Dad I’m big but we’re smaller than small
In the scheme of things, well we’re nothing at all
Still every mother’s child sings a lonely song
So play with me, come play with me
And Hey Dad
Here’s a riddle for you
Find the Answer
There’s a reason for the world
You and I…
I said,
Son for all I’ve told you
When you get right down to the
Reason for the world…
Who am I?
There are secrets that we still have left to find
There have been mysteries from the beginning of time
There are answers we’re not wise enough to see
He said… You looking for a clue I Love You free…
The batter swings and the summer flies
As I look into my angel’s eyes
A song plays on while the moon is hiding over me
Something comes over me
I guess we’re big and I guess we’re small
If you think about it man you know we got it all
Cause we’re all we got on this bouncing ball
And I love you free
I love you freely
Here’s a riddle for you
Find the Answer
There’s a reason for the world
You and I…
Now sit back and listen to it here
Tues, post Masters, and feeling like I’m in semi-retirement. 211106 @ 0820
